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The BD-10A High Frequency Generator can produce 50,000 volts of electricity at its tip.

Powerful generator 'branded' students -

The tool a student says his science teacher used to burn a cross on his arm comes with a
warning:
Never touch or come in contact with the high voltage output of this device.

When the boy's parents complained, administrators at Mount Vernon Middle School told John
Freshwater, the school's eighth-grade science teacher, to lock up or remove the BD-10A High
Frequency Generator from the classroom. About the same size and shape as a power screwdriver, its
tip puts out up to 50,000 volts of electricity.

Science teachers use the generator to ionize gases in a test tube so that students can identify
them by their glowing colors.

But Freshwater, the student's parents said, also used it to shock their son and other students,
branding their forearms with a cross-shaped welt.

The district is investigating whether Freshwater used his teaching position to push his
Christian beliefs on students. An attorney for the boy's parents considers the branding allegation
to be more serious.

A shock from the device would feel like the static shock from touching a metal doorknob after
walking across carpet on a dry winter day, said Gerald Cuzelis, who owns the company that makes the
tool.

But touching a doorknob doesn't leave a welt.

"We have instructions to warn people that it's not a toy," said Cuzelis, who owns
Electro-Technic Products in Chicago. "If this device is directed for seconds (on the skin), that's
a clear misuse of the product."

Cuzelis said he is not aware of anyone seriously hurt with the device and said that his company
has never been sued for injuries.

The school's principal spoke with Freshwater on Dec. 10, three days after one boy's mother
complained that the pain of the burn on his arm kept her son awake.

Principal William D. White wrote a letter to Freshwater in January, telling him not to shock
children with the device. The letter noted that it would not be placed in his personnel file unless
he shocked his students again.

The school district provided the letter after
TheDispatch filed a public-records request for all documents associated with the
generator.

Freshwater has directed all media questions to his attorney, Roger Weaver, who did not return
phone calls last week.

Freshwater was not immediately disciplined nor were the police or Children Services contacted
right away.

"We believe the equipment was not used in an acceptable manner," he said. "We didn't think it
had criminal implications."

Jessica Philemond, attorney for the parents of one of the boys who was branded, said Short and
the district should have done more.

"The question is: Why was the teacher simply just scolded for doing this?" she said

Not until April -- four months after the boy's parents complained -- did Short speak with an
employee of Knox County Children Services, Philemond said.

She would not name the student out of concern that he could be treated badly because of his
parents' complaint.

Short said that in an informal conversation with a Children Services employee, he said he didn't
think Freshwater had intended to hurt anyone and the employee said the agency wouldn't investigate
such an incident.

The agency's director did not return calls for this story.

Philemond sent a letter to Short on April 14 saying that she would suggest the family sue the
district if nothing was done.

The same day, administrators ordered Freshwater to remove religious items, including Bibles, the
Ten Commandments and posters with Bible verses, from his classroom. Freshwater complied but
objected to removing his personal Bible from his desk.

Philemond says that Freshwater taught religion in his classroom.

"When Mr. Freshwater disagrees with teaching material based upon his own religious beliefs, he
advises the students that, although he is forced to teach from the textbooks, the teachings are
wrong or not proven according to the Bible," Philemond's letter states.

As moderator of a meeting of Christian athletes in the school, she said, Freshwater led a
healing ceremony to drive Satan from an ill school visitor and asked students to distribute Bibles
to other students. He was supposed to be there as an observer, the district has said.

David Millstone, the district's attorney, said administrators dealt with the complaints as they
learned about them.

Philemond's letter identified some problems they had not known, he said.

Freshwater, 51, still teaches, but a school employee has been monitoring his classes.

He has worked for the Mount Vernon schools for 21 years. Evaluations in his personnel file
praise him for his strong rapport with students.

The district hired Tom Herlevi, a human-resources consultant, to investigate the allegations
against Freshwater. That investigation is expected to be finished by the end of this month.